Rainbow Six Siege has its first transgender character 

Rainbow Six Siege has its first transgender character, a new operator called Osa, and the writers are “incredibly proud” of her inclusion.

“So here it is. Osa is a trans woman, and I’m incredibly proud,” Rainbow Six Siege narrative writer Simon Ducharme wrote on Twitter shortly after the debut of the new operator Osa, who’ll be joining the lineup of operators in Rainbow Six Siege: Crystal Guard.

Being more than just a token character that Ubisoft are content to pat themselves on the back for, Osa has been thoughtfully created through the guidance of consults, with Ducharme thanking “@JadeWhirl, @BirdTickler and @CaptainFluke” in their Twitter post, saying “thank you for trusting me to write Osa’s story.”

“The decision to create a transgender character was made early on, as part of our initiative to have an inclusive roster of Operators,” Ducharme went on to say to GameSpot after they requested confirmation of Osa being transgender. 

“The consultants, all of whom are trans people, wanted to make sure that Osa was presented as authentically and organically as possible,” Ducharme continued. “She was written by a queer person and she is voiced by a trans woman – and while her identity is certainly influenced by her gender, who she is in the Siege universe is centered on her talents, her influence on Nighthaven, and her close friendship to Kali.”

When it comes to her talents, Osa is bringing a new dynamic to Rainbow Six Seige in Crystal Guard, as Osa can carry and deploy bulletproof windows, called the Talon 8 Clear Sheild, that can be deployed just about anywhere. 

On top of the new gadget that lets attackers reinforce a position for a change, Rainbow Six Siege: Crystal Guard will also introduce map updates to Clubhouse, Coastline and Bank, as well as operator tweaks to IQ, Fuze, and Twitch when it launches later this year.